North Texas Announces 2004 Football Schedule

DENTON (2/3/04)- The University of North Texas has announced its 2004 football schedule, which is highlighted by five home games and three games against Big 12 Conference opponents including the season-opener at Texas September 4. Games at Colorado S

DENTON (2/3/04)- The University of North Texas has announced its 2004 football schedule, which is highlighted by five home games and three games against Big 12 Conference opponents including the season-opener at Texas September 4. Games at Colorado Sept. 18 and at Baylor Sept. 25 round out the trio of Big 12 games for the Mean Green.

"This is a very challenging schedule with three games against Big 12 opponents on the road in the first four weeks," head coach Darrell Dickey said. "Texas is always very highly ranked and Colorado has an outstanding football tradition. Baylor is making tremendous progress under Guy Morris and is well on the road to being very competitive in the Big 12 again."

The home-opener for North Texas will be Sept. 11 against future Sun Belt Conference member Florida Atlantic. The Owls will play several Sun Belt teams in 2004 before joining the conference as a full member in 2005.

North Texas begins Sun Belt play by hosting Middle Tennessee on October 2 and will also host conference opponents New Mexico State, Louisiana-Monroe and Idaho. This is the first time since North Texas joined the Sun Belt that it has played four conference games at home.

The Mean Green will go on the road to face Utah State, Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas State. All Sun Belt teams will play a seven-game conference schedule, with Troy State being the only member not on the Mean Green’s schedule. North Texas currently holds the longest conference winning streak in the nation at 18 games.

"We have made an effort to build our schedule in a way that provides an equal balance between home and away games, making sure that we don’t go longer than one or two weeks without a home game," athletic director Rick Villarreal said. "We believe we have put together a schedule that accommodates our fans and makes it easy for them to attend every game."

North Texas finished 7-0 in conference play and 9-4 overall in 2003. Season tickets are now on sale through the North Texas ticket office at (940) 565-2527.